Xoom was supposed to be the big promoter of Android Honeycomb tablets, but with a price tag so large and without a wi-fi only version at launch, it failed to make not only Motorola’s tablets popular, but Honeycomb too. Asus is here to rectify that with their $399 Transformer Honeycomb tablet that has already sold out at Amazon and Best Buy.
When I first saw the price tag of Xoom, I and many other people were very disappointed, but to be honest I was hoping all the initial tablets fail if they were all going to be like the Xoom – expensive and 3G only. Clearly Motorola (and Verizon) thought it could make the 3G only $800 the new “standard” for Android tablet pricing, or at the very least rip-off early adopters with high prices. Luckily, the market saw right through their plans and rejected the tablet.
Asus, Acer and even Samsung seem to have understood how important it is to make under $500 tablets, so they seem to be the first big brands to offer them at $499 (Galaxy Tab 10.1), $469 (Galaxy Tab 8.9″), $449 (Acer Iconia) and or even $399, the price Asus Eee Pad Transformer is selling at. Even if the early Android tablets took a blow now only to their potential market share but also to their credibility, I’m willing to accept that as long as it means that in the long term all high-end Android tablets will start under $499 (with other options for higher prices of course).
[Via Phandroid]
With lovely light bleeding this is a must buy!